Ray of sunshine

January 21, 2006|By Amy Longsdorf Special to The Morning Call -- Freelance

Sheetal Sheth will never forget the moment she decided to become an actress.

She was on stage at Liberty High School in Bethlehem in the midst of a ninth-grade production of "Slight Indulgences" when she noticed how badly things were going. Her timing was off, the audience was bored, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

Most teenagers would move on, and vow never to perform again. The Phillipsburg-born, Bethlehem-bred Sheth had the opposite reaction. She decided to put her failure under a microscope.

"I was really bad and I was the lead," says Sheth. "It was one of the only times, to be honest, that I wasn't good at something that I tried to do. School was easier for me. So I was fascinated with that."

Vowing to learn more about performing, she hit the books. Almost instantly, she fell in love with acting.

Lately, Sheth's love has been reciprocated. On Friday, her latest movie, Albert Brooks' "Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World," bowed in 100 theaters nationwide. On Feb. 10 it is scheduled to arrive in the Lehigh Valley and other mid-sized markets. Sheth co-stars as the assistant to a filmmaker -- Brooks -- who goes to India and Pakistan to discover what makes Muslims laugh.

Sheth's performance has already attracted the attention of Maxim, Hollywood Life and Vanity Fair magazines, all of which will feature the actress in upcoming spreads. Even the industry bible, Variety, seems smitten with Sheth. In a review of "Looking For Comedy," critic Deborah Young singled out the actress for praise, noting that she "beams like a ray of sunshine."

So what's the "ray of sunshine" doing to celebrate her bright future? Is she out attending parties and other glitzy gatherings?

Not exactly. Many nights, Sheth can be found tending bar at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard.

"She's the hardest-working woman I've known in my life," says Aasif Mandvi, who co-starred with Sheth in two of her early films, "ABCD" and "American Chai." "She's the only movie star I've ever heard of who has a major film coming out and still holds down a bartending job."

Sheth has never been shy about toiling extra hours. At 15, she got a special work permit so she could sling hash at Perkins along Route 191 in Bethlehem Township while also working as a hostess at the now-defunct Chi-Chi's at the Lehigh Valley Mall.

Bartending at the House of Blues is a snap compared to all the running around she did while living in Bethlehem. "I pick up a couple shifts here and there because it's a safety net for me," she explains. "I'd rather do that a couple of nights a week than sit around worrying about money."

Sheth hasn't had much to worry about lately. Just back from the Dubai Film Festival where "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" had its world premiere, the actress is holed up in a New York City hotel, halfway through a press event for the film. On the telephone, she's down-to-earth and friendly as she describes her last 48 hours talking to scores of reporters.

"I've done interviews with everyone from the Jewish Post to the Muslim World News," she says. "There's so many different types of people, all of whom have different perspectives on the film. We're having healthy, intelligent discussions."

"Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World" is sure to inspire discussions among audience members, as well. Brooks, best known for "Modern Romance," "Mother" and "The Muse," wrote, directed and stars in the movie.

Just as he did with "Real Life," Brooks plays a filmmaker named Albert Brooks. This time around, he's enlisted by the U.S. government for a new diplomatic effort.

Brooks is asked to spend a month in India and Pakistan and write a 500-page report about what makes the 300 million Muslims in the region laugh. His accomplices include two government agents (John Carroll Lynch and Jon Tenney) as well as an Indian assistant named Maya (Sheth).

Brooks brings his stand-up act out of mothballs for New Delhi's first comedy concert. He meets with Al Jazeera execs about a sitcom. And he goes off for a secret summit with Pakistani comics. (They're the only ones who "get" his jokes.)

Through it all, Sheth's Maya is by Brooks' side, struggling to understand his sense of humor. A scene in which Brooks tutors her in the fine art of sarcasm is one of the film's highlights.

In real life, Sheth understood Brooks' humor only too well. "I would ruin take after take laughing at him," she recalls. "It was tough, because Sheetal would get the jokes but my character wouldn't. So I finally had to say to Albert, "Let me laugh and get this out of my system so I can play what I'm supposed to play in this scene."'